of the picture, following the outline neatly without running over on
the white paper. After applying the varnish let it dry a minute, then,
holding the picture to the light, take a larger brush and dampen the
back with water, being careful to wet the size of the design only.
Before the picture has time to expand much, apply the picture to the
article to be ornamented, firmly pressing every part; dampen again with
water, after which remove the paper. To remove the paper, commence at
one corner and carefully raise it, keeping close watch that none of
the design adheres to the paper. If a piece, however small, is seen
attached to the paper, immediately replace the paper and again press
that part to the article and perhaps dampen a little more. Having
entirely removed the paper, draw a damp cloth smoothly over the finger
and firmly press every part, using great care that no air bubbles
remain under the large surfaces. The day after the transfer, carefully
wash the design with cold water, and when perfectly dry, lightly apply
the protecting varnish to the design. The above directions are strictly
applicable to ornamenting only such articles as can be washed.
In ornamenting any delicate substance, such as silk, great care must
be observed in dampening the back, in order to dampen only the exact
size of the design; as, if the preparation on the paper is dampened
around the picture, it will soil the silk. Of course the washing above
mentioned must be omitted; and oftentimes the varnishing may also be
omitted to advantage, as its object is simply to render the painting
more durable, where it is to be subjected to use or exposed to the
weather.
In order to avoid soiling delicate substances, some persons have
adopted the following expedients:—After applying the cementing varnish
to the picture, and before dampening the back, take the water brush,
and thoroughly wet the face of the paper all around the design. This
will soften the preparation, which may be removed by carefully touching
the surface with a wet cloth. The cloth, being wet, will not stick to
the varnish if it comes in contact with it. After this operation, the
process is the same as before described, except that some of the fine
parts near the edge may require retouching with the cementing varnish.
For ornamenting any dark substances, such as black silk or a rosewood
box, the picture is differently prepared. After the picture has been
printed in all its colors, the whole design is entirely covered with
gold leaf or a preparation of white lead, which is merely to give the
picture its proper effect, by preventing the dark surface from showing
through, which it would do at every light part were it not for this
backing. But if it is desirable to use some pictures not backed on a
dark ground, it may be done by covering the design with a preparation
of fine white lead, called white grounding. The grounding must be
allowed to dry, and then the process is the same as before. In applying
your pictures to any article, face the light, and, holding the picture
before you, the design can be seen from the back, and thus correctly
placed in position.
ENGRAVED BOXES.
THE box should be white or light straw-color in order to show the faint
impression to advantage. It should be varnished five or six times in
succession, and suffered to dry thoroughly each time. While the last
coat of varnish is yet so fresh that your finger will adhere to it,
the engraving must be put on, the picture side next to the varnish.
The engraving must be prepared in the following manner:—All the white
paper must be cut off close to the edges of the engraving, which must
be laid on a clean table, with the picture downward, and moistened all
over with a clean sponge. It must then be placed between two leaves of
blotting paper, to dry it a little. Before putting it on the box, take
great care to have it even, and determine exactly where you wish it
to be. Lay one edge of the print, picture downward, upon the varnish,
and gradually drop it to its place, passing the hand successively over
the back of the print in such a manner as to drive out all the air,
and prevent the formation of blisters. Then carefully touch it all
over with a linen cloth, so as to be sure every part adheres to the
varnish. Leave it until it is thoroughly dry. Then moisten the back
of the engraving with a clean sponge, and rub it lightly backward and
forward with the fingers, so as to remove the moistened paper in small
rolls. When the picture begins to appear, take great care lest you rub
through, and take off some of the impression. As soon as you perceive
there is danger of this, leave it to dry. In drying, the engraving will
disappear, because it is still covered by a slight film of paper. You
might think it mere white paper; but give it a coat of varnish, and it
will become quite transparent. Should you by accident have removed any
part of the engraving, touch it with India ink, and gum water, in order
that no white spots may appear; but when you put on your second coat of
varnish you must take care to pass very lightly over the spots you have
retouched. The box should be varnished as many as three times after the
engraving has been placed on it, and suffered to dry thoroughly each
time. The white alcoholic varnish is the best. It should be put on in
the sunshine, or near a warm stove. After the last coat is well dried,
sift a little pulverized rotten stone through coarse muslin, and rub it
on with linseed oil and a soft rag; after being well rubbed, cleanse
the box thoroughly with an old silk handkerchief or soft linen rag.
Some persons say that a very thin sizing of nice glue should be put on
the box before it is varnished at all; others say it is not necessary.
This work requires great patience and care; but the effect is very
beautiful, and pays for the trouble.
CORAL FLOWERS AND BASKETS.
FORM baskets, flowers, and sprays of all shapes and kinds, of
bonnet-wire already wound with thread. Then take one ounce of resin and
dissolve it in a brass pan with two drachms of the finest vermilion,
and thoroughly mix them; then take your basket, twigs, &c., and dip
them into the solution till they are well dyed. Some persons dissolve
red sealing-wax in alcohol, and form coral, powder the wax, and fill in
as much as the alcohol will dissolve.
IMITATION OF INLAID IVORY.
HAVE your fancy table, work-box, &c., made of smooth polished white
wood, such as satin wood or maple; sketch upon it such figures as
castles, men, women, wreaths of flowers, &c., as you fancy; then color
all, except the figures you have drawn, with dead black. It then, if
neatly and tastefully finished, looks like ebony inlaid with ivory.
ALUM BASKETS.
SUCCESS in these baskets depends somewhat upon chance; for the crystals
will sometimes form irregularly, even when the utmost care is taken.
Dissolve alum in a little more than twice as much water as will be
necessary to cover the basket, handle and all. Put in as much alum as
the water will dissolve. The water should be hot. When the water is
entirely saturated, pour it into a sauce-pan or earthen jar, (by no
means put it into an iron vessel), and slowly boil it, until it is
nearly evaporated. The basket should then be suspended from a little
stick, laid across the top of the jar, in such a manner that both
basket and handle will be covered by the solution. It must be set
away in a cool place, where not the slightest motion will disturb the
formation of the crystals.
The frame may be made in any shape you fancy. It is usually made of
small wire, woven in and out like basket-work; but a common willow
basket may be used for a frame. Whether it be wire or willow, a rough
surface must be produced by winding every part with thread or worsted.
Bonnet-wire already covered can be used, and the trouble of winding
the basket avoided. Bright yellow crystals may be produced by boiling
gamboge, saffron or tumeric in the alum solution. Litmus boiled in will
give bright red crystals; logwood will form purple. The colors will
be more or less deep according to the quantity used. Splendid blue
crystals may be obtained by preparing the sulphate of copper, commonly
called blue vitriol, in the same manner as alum is prepared. Care must
be taken not to drop it on your clothes.
PAINTING ON GLASS.
SOME of the works which profess to teach the art of painting on glass
contain directions for staining large windows in churches and halls;
others merely give the process of producing the more common paintings,
such as are carried about the streets for sale. These seem to have
been much in vogue about a century since, as all the “Young Artist’s
Assistants” of that day contain the mode of painting them. They direct
us to fix a mezzotinto print upon the back of a sheet of glass, and to
remove the paper by wetting and rubbing, leaving the impression of the
print, which is afterwards to be painted in broad washes; the ink of
the print giving the shadows. The picture being then turned over, the
glazed side becomes the front, and the colors first laid on are, of
course, nearest the eye. This mode of painting resembles the style of
Grecian painting, that being painted from the back, and the shading is
the ink of the engraving.
The methods by which glass is stained are scientific; they require
some knowledge of chemistry, and such apparatus as must preclude the
practice of this branch of art as an amusement. It may be interesting,
however, to know something of the process. The glass being, at first,
colorless, a drawing is made upon it, and the painting is laid on
with mineral substances, the vehicle being a volatile oil, which soon
evaporates. The sheets of glass are then exposed to a powerful heat,
until they are so far melted that they receive the colors into their
own substances. Enamel painting is done on the same principle. This
is a time of great anxiety to the artist, as with all possible care,
valuable paintings, both in glass and enamel, are frequently spoiled in
the proving, or vitrification. The art seems to have been lost during
several centuries, but it has of late been successfully revived; and
large windows have been executed for churches and gothic halls, which
almost vie with the fine old specimens in the cathedrals, in point of
color, while they far excel them in other respects.
The branch of the art which may be treated as an accomplishment is
the decoration of glass, flower-stands, lamp-shades, and similar
articles, with light and elegant designs. Flowers, birds, butterflies
and pleasing landscapes, afford an extensive range of subjects, which
are suitable to this style of ornamental painting. The glasses may be
procured ready ground. The outline may be sketched in with a black lead
pencil; the lead can be washed off with a sponge when the colors are
dry. The whole of the colors employed must be transparent, and ground
in oil; opaque, or body colors, will not answer the purpose.
They may be purchased in small bladders, only requiring to be tempered
with fine copal or mastic varnish, and a very little nut oil, to be
ready for use. Blue is produced by Prussian blue; red, by scarlet or
crimson lake; yellow, by yellow lake or gamboge; green, by verdigris,
or mineral green, or a mixture of Prussian blue and gamboge; purple, by
a mixture of lake and Prussian blue; reddish brown, by burnt sienna;
and all the other tints may be obtained by combinations; for white,
or such parts as are required to be transparent, without color, the
varnish only should be employed. A very chaste and pleasing effect may
be produced by painting the whole design in varnish, without color.
It is an advantage to this style of painting, that but few colors are
required; as from the nature of the subjects, and their purpose as
ornaments, brilliancy is more desirable than a nice gradation of tints.
The work must, of course, be carefully dried, but may afterwards be
cleaned with a sponge and cold water.
PAINTING ON VELVET.
PAINTING on velvet as well as on glass is an old art revived. No art
that is really beautiful in itself will pass away entirely. As these
paintings are very pleasing to the eye, and easy of execution, it is
well to know how to paint them. The following directions are taken from
a reliable English work.
The colors for this style of painting are sold at the drawing material
warehouses, in a liquid state and prepared for use. In addition to
these, a brilliant rose color is obtained from the pink saucers, by
dropping a little weak gum water upon the color, and rubbing it with
a brush. A deep yellow may also be produced by pouring a few drops of
boiling water upon a small quantity of hay saffron.
It is necessary to mix gum water with all the colors made, to prevent
their spreading into each other; gum dragon is the best for this
purpose. The brushes used are called scrubs; they consist of a small
stick, with a camel’s hair brush cut off quite short at one end, and at
the other, a brush of bristles of a much harder description. A small
box of black lead is necessary, and a piece of list rolled tightly
round, to the diameter of about two inches, to be used as a sort of
brush with the black lead, for making outlines in the manner we shall
presently direct. A piece of linen rag, to wipe the brushes on, should
also be provided.
The most brilliant flowers, fruits, shells, birds, &c., are well
adapted to this style of painting. The outline of the subject may be
sketched in pencil on the velvet, which is of such a very delicate
nature, that the greatest nicety is necessary to keep it in a state
of neatness. Care should also be taken that the sketch is correctly
made, as an error cannot be effaced by rubbing out, as on paper. It is
a safer method, however, to make the sketch on drawing-paper, and to
prick the outline very closely with a fine needle; then, the velvet
being previously nailed on a flat piece of wood of a proper size, the
pricked pattern may be laid over it, the roll of list dipped into the
black lead powder, and rubbed regularly over the pattern from side to
side; be careful to touch every part, and on removing the pattern, a
perfect outline in black dots will appear on the velvet.
Where a set of articles of the same pattern is undertaken, this is a
very good plan, as it ensures accuracy, and saves the trouble of making
separate sketches.
Even those who have no knowledge of drawing on paper may produce a
design on velvet, with ease and correctness, by tracing off against a
window, or by means of tracing paper, any drawing or print which they
wish to copy, and pricking the tracing on the velvet in the manner just
described. In order to keep the margin of the velvet from being soiled
in the progress of painting, a piece of thick paper should be laid
over the whole, and an aperture cut in the middle, sufficiently large
to expose the part to be worked on. Each brush should be kept for that
color alone to which it has once been appropriated.
A small quantity of the color about to be used should be poured into a
little cup, and a drop of gum water added, and stirred with the stick
of a pencil prior to its being taken on the brush. The mode of its
application is so simple, that a short description of the execution of
a single flower will suffice to give an idea of the process of painting
almost any other subject on velvet. A very small portion of color is to
be taken upon the brush, and the darkest part of the leaf touched with
it; the brush is then to be dipped in water, and the color gradually
softened to the edge; each leaf ought to be colored separately, and the
darkest parts in the centre of the flowers may be finished with a small
brush without softening. India ink is used to make the dark shadows of
crimson flowers. The veins, and all the petals of flowers, and all the
fine lines, should be done with a pen. Each leaf, as it is shadowed,
should be brushed with the hard end of a brush, that way of the velvet
in which the pile runs most easily, and then in the contrary direction,
so as to set it up again to become dry. A deeper shade should never
be added to a leaf or flower until the color previously laid on is
perfectly set, or the two colors will spread and run into each other,
this will be prevented by the gum, if sufficient time can be allowed
for each shade to dry before a subsequent one is applied.
When the piece is finished, and quite dry, it should be brushed over
with a small, round brush, about two inches in diameter, with hard
bristles of an equal length, to raise up such parts of the pile as may
have been flattened in the process of painting.
Toilet-sets, sofa-cushions, fancy tables, pin-cushions, and a variety
of articles may be ornamented in this way.
CASTING IN PLASTER, SULPHUR, ETC.
TAKING the impression of coins, medals, &c., is, independently of its
utility, a most interesting amusement. This art is of considerable
importance to collectors of antique coins, &c. It is often difficult,
and always expensive, to purchase superior specimens, of which,
however, exact models may be obtained by casting, without the
slightest injury to the originals. The mould is made in the following
manner:—Take a strip of paper, a quarter or third of an inch wide;
roll it twice tight around the rim of the coin, or gem, of which a cast
is intended to be taken, and fasten the end with very stiff gum-water,
which will hold it instantly. Rub a very little oil, with a camels-hair
pencil, over the coin, in order to prevent the plaster from sticking;
then mix some fine plaster of Paris, with as much water as will make
it almost as thick as treacle; apply it quickly to the coin, on which
it will be held by the paper rim. It sets almost instantly, and may be
taken off in a few hours; but the longer it remains undisturbed the
better. The mould which is thus obtained is the reverse of the coin;
that is, the impression is concave, like a seal. When the moulds are
so dry that they will not wrinkle a piece of paper laid flat upon the
surface, let them be well saturated with the best boiled linseed oil,
placing the moulds with their surface upward, that the whole of the oil
may be absorbed. They must be covered from dust, and nothing should
touch their surface, lest they suffer injury. Moulds, well prepared in
this manner, and dried about two days after being oiled, will stand a
long time, for the casting of either plaster or sulphur. When used,
either Florence oil or a little hog’s lard (the latter to be preferred)
should be applied very tenderly over the mould with a little of the
finest cotton wool, and the cotton wool, without lard, afterwards
passed lightly over the surface, to leave as little as possible of the
unctuous matter upon the mould, that the casts may be the finer. Put
paper around them, as was before done to the coin; pour on plaster in
the same manner, and a fac-simile of the original will be produced.
Good casts may be made of sulphur, melted in an iron ladle, either
pure, or colored with a little red lead or vermilion powdered and
stirred up with it. The moulds and casts are made in the same manner
as with plaster of Paris, only that the sulphur must be poured on the
mould when hot, and water, instead of oil, must be used, to prevent
adhesion. Sulphur makes the best moulds for plaster casts, and _vice
versa_—as similar substances can seldom be prevented, by either water
or oil, from adhering, in some degree, to each other. Plaster cannot be
used twice; that is, old or spoiled casts cannot be powdered and again
employed; for the moment the material is moistened, being a species of
lime, it is no longer plaster, without being reburnt.
Another way of making casts of almost any color, is with a strong
solution of isinglass; it must be used when quite hot; and it is so
thin that a box, exactly fitting the rim of the coin, is required,
otherwise it will escape. It may be colored with saffron, wood, &c.
Very beautiful impressions may be taken by pouring melted wax upon the
metal, which comes off easily when the wax and metal are perfectly
cold; but any one attempting this had better try it first upon a penny,
or other coin of little value.
Impressions may also be taken in wax, which, for this purpose, should
be rendered pliable by kneading it with the hand before the fire, a
little oil having been previously mixed with it. When softened to about
the consistency of putty, lay it and press it close down on the coin,
the form of which will then be perfectly obtained.
The following is another mode of taking impressions:—Procure tin or
lead foil, as thin as possible, place it on the coin, and with a pin’s
head, or any small, smooth instrument, work it into every part; then
take it off, revert it into a shallow box, and pour plaster into its
concave side; a durable plaster cast is thus obtained, covered with tin
foil, which will resemble silver.
LEATHER WORK.
“THE Complete Guide to Ornamental Leather Work” gives very elaborate
directions, the more practical of which are given in this chapter in
connection with suggestions derived from other sources. Being quite
absorbed at one time in imitating various kinds of flowers and leaves
in leather, and in ornamenting and staining wood to represent beautiful
carved work,—the writer of this examined the books on the subject, and
tried many elaborate methods, and finally went to a cabinet-maker and
learned the simplest mode of staining and varnishing. Her leather work
proved to be quite as durable, and was pronounced as handsome, as if it
had been covered with various coats of stiffening.
The kind of leather used for general purposes is basil; it should be
selected of an even texture and of a light color, as the light colored
will stain better than the dark. It should be soft and free from
blemishes.
The skiver leather is used for making grapes, or very small leaves and
flowers, and can be obtained at the same place as the basil leather;
this kind is also useful for thin stems and any minute portion of the
work.